Tax day at the Supreme Court

The fact that today is April 15 was not lost on the U.S. Supreme Court this morning.

“Remarkably enough, we have two tax cases to announce today,” said Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr. at the beginning of today’s session, drawing laughs from the audience.

In the first case, authored by Justice Samuel Alito, a unanimous Court threw out a state court ruling that allowed Illinois to tax a portion of Ohio-based MeadWestvaco Corp.’s capital gains from the 1994 sale of Lexis/Nexis. More on that case, MeadWestvaco v. Illinois Department of Revenue, No. 06-1413, here from CNNMoney.

In another case, penned by Roberts, the Court limited to three years the time frame that coal mining units of TECO Energy Inc. can get tax refunds in their dispute with the federal government over coal export tax payments. More here from the Wall Street Journalon U.S. v. Clintwood Elkhorn Mining Co., No. 07-308